


Was it all a Dream?

by Girlyemma96



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 09:30:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2807693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlyemma96/pseuds/Girlyemma96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six weeks after finding himself lost in Manhattan Mr. Gold falls asleep on a bench only to wake up to a beauty above him. Is it all a dream or is this beauty really his true love that as come for him. The question is without Belle is there anything left of Rumple at all?  </p>
<p>RSS gift for taintednightstar on tumblr</p>
<p>Prompt : What's left of me</p>
            </blockquote>





	Was it all a Dream?

Six weeks was a long time to be lost in a world you did not know. It was not that Rumple was new to the land without magic; it just wasn’t exactly in his element. After being thrown over the town-line by Belle he’d stayed there for who knows how long crying out to her, begging her to take him back, but it seemed his cries were reaching nothing but broken shattered corners of his now broken heart.  
He somehow managed to make it to the city of Manhattan by hitch hiking. It took work though as people were skeptical of a man in a designer suit asking for a car ride. But thankfully an elderly woman stopped and gave him his ride to the city.

The first thing he did was go and find Bae’s old apartment, which thank goodness was still there. He managed to break down the door and get inside, making the apartment his home for the next 6 weeks. He lived off the canned food that was still in the cupboards. There was no heat for, that had been shut off, and the lights were also absent. So, he just sat in darkness and cried himself to sleep every night, dreaming of Belle, his son and all the broken dreams he now had.

It was the one-day that he decided to leave the apartment for a bit that things went wrong. He managed to find some extra cash lying around and so he figured it would be a good time to replenish his supplies; maybe find some decent clothes and perhaps a job. So he went off using a spare key he found to lock the door that he managed to repair.

Well it turned out in Manhattan; grocers did not talk kindly to customers who were unclean and looked like a homeless men, so naturally he was not allowed in the shops. So he went back to the apartment, only to find that it had been foreclosed due to the place being empty for months and Rumple taking illegal possession of it. Of course, he got down on his knees and explained he had no home to go to and this was all he had. He was not sure if it was pity but the cops let him go and now he was left on the streets.

It was a cold time of the year in a big city; snow had begun to fall as he stepped outside. Just his lucky day he would be have to sleep in a snow filled gutter. He managed to find a ratty old coat in an alley way and a bench not too far from him. It was getting later in the day and darkness would soon befall the entire city. So he laid down on the bench, his body shaking from cold and fear the entire time. Was this the rest of his life? Was this how his story was to end, alone in a gutter with no hand to hold? A single tear dripped down his check and he tried to fall asleep shaking all the while.

He was not sure how long he had been asleep, or if he was still asleep, but he suddenly felt his eyes flicker open. He certainly wasn’t in the alleyway anymore and he could feel warmth around him. There was a figure before him and he could feel them dabbing a warm cloth to his forehead gently. His vision was slightly blurry so he couldn’t see the figure before him well. However, he could tell that it was a woman as delicate fingers touched his cheek.

“Where am I?” he asked his voice cracking. He looked up and saw a smile on the red painted lips above him. She had kind eyes too, blue in fact from what he could tell.

“You’re safe now and its going to be all right” she said her voice so soft. That is when Rumple really though he was dreaming, this voice this, woman sounded just like Belle, but it could not be Belle, it couldn’t.

He felt his vision clear as he looked up at her, the features she possessed becoming more and more clear. This was most certainly a cruel trick the fates were playing on him, flaunting visions of Belle in front of his face.

“Who are you?” he asked softly. She gave him a smile and pressed a small kiss to his forehead. “I’m your true love” she whispered touching his cheek.  
Rumple flinched back in surprise. “No, you’re not Belle, she’s gone and she’s not coming back. Besides how could she ever want the broken man that’s left of me now” he said with a sigh.

The women smiled. “Perhaps she had a change of heart, a revelation if you will” she explained moving to sit next to him, where he lay down.  
He looked at her skeptically, this wasn’t real it couldn’t be real. No matter how much he wanted it to be. His mind was manifesting a vision of Belle, because he missed her. “She threw me over the town line, and made it quite clear that she didn’t want me”.

The brunette looked down at him, her eyes soft. “That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t care for you. You might not be able to be together, but she does care” she said her voice gentle.

She couldn’t possibly forgive him, or not care about his current status. Belle couldn’t look past this, he had seen the pain in her eyes, the pain of betrayal. The hurt, reflecting on her soul, as he was pushed, away into the darkness. It was an image he wanted to forget, but it wasn’t in the cards it would seem.

“Why would she even care, I’m gone and I’m not a burden to her anymore” he sighed. The beauty smiled at him and laid down next to him. “She just wants you to be happy, that’s all she ever wanted. Even if it’s not with her”.

Rumple sighed. Perhaps this women, well Belle, or whoever she was, was right, maybe that’s all Belle ever wanted for him. She had cared about him at some point, so it was possible she still cared now. With Belle’s heart of gold, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she still did love him.

“You may not be a prefect man Rumplestilskin, but she loves you despite your flaws. You know the saying, the best book has the dustiest jacket and sometimes the best teacup is chipped” she smiled still her voice cracking slightly.

And that’s when Rumple was brought back down to earth. Her eyes said it all; Belle was here with him and she cared. She couldn’t be with him anymore but she cared enough to come after him. That brought a tear to his eye as he reached up to her to touch her.

“Belle” he whispered breathlessly tucking the lose strand of her hair behind her ear, noting the bright blue bow that had been holding back her curls, he tugged it slowly. He pulled away the satin ribbon and watched as the hair gently fell at she shoulders. She looked so beautiful in the light of the room, but did he dare chance a kiss.

It was as if she could sense it too the look in his eyes and she smiled. “It’s okay, I don’t mind” she said moving closer.

He smiled at her and moved in slowly his lips touching hers. She tasted sweet just as he remembered. Rumple placed his arms around her neck as he deepened the kiss, he knew it couldn’t last forever but he would try and make it so.

“I love you” he said against her lips sucking in her breath as if it were his only life force.

“And I love you too, always have and always will” she said pulling away slightly the smile still on her face, as she snuggled into his embrace.

He didn’t know how long she was in his arms but the next thing he knew he was waking up in a room, the smell of antibiotics and sickness filling the air. His eyes ached and his vision blurry as the figure in the room came into view.

It was a man from what he could tell and he was wearing a coat. “Mr. Gold are you alright?” he questioned as Rumple tried to look straight.

“Where am I?” he said looking around for this was not the room he had previously found him self in.

“You’re in the hospital. An older women found you this morning freezing to death on a park bench, you’re lucky you didn’t die from ammonia,” the doctor said walking over to check his vitals.

So it was all a dream just as he suspected. Belle hadn’t come from him the whole thing was a trick his mind played to make him feel better. He had been asleep on the park bench the entire time, freezing to death. He sighed she didn’t care, she was probably glad to be rid of him.

That was when he saw the blue satin ribbon draped on the side table. He chanced to reach for it stretching his hand to the furthest lengths. He managed to grasp the ribbon pulling it back towards him. Rumple felt it between his fingers staring at it in shock and confusion.

“That” the doctor pointed out “was in your pocket when you were brought here, we though it might have some significance to you” he said checking things on the clip board

Rumple couldn’t help but smile it was real. She was real; the whole thing had been real. He had kissed Belle, and she knew he loved her and she loved him. They couldn’t be together and that hurt his heart but she cared and she came for him. He felt a tear trickle down his cheek as he clutched the ribbon close to his chest  
It was perhaps another dream he was having now, he might have still been on the park bench slowly freezing to death. He might even be already dead. But for now, in whatever state he was, he was warm and safe, and for the first time in forever he thought to himself.

“Perhaps there is something left of me”  
Hope.

**Author's Note:**

> leave some comments on your thoughts


End file.
